Darth Vader goes mad and Shakespeare is *not* ready for this energy.
James Earl Jones delivers a riveting performance as paranoid patriarch King Lear, an aging monarch who insists that his three daughters prove their love for him, only to learn he's exalted the two who seek to destroy him. This live performance recording of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production deftly envisions the bard's haunting tragedy with a fine supporting cast, including Raul Julia, Paul Sorvino and Rene Auberjonois.
Acting
James Earl Jones's voice could collapse kingdoms—here, it does.
Direction
Edwin Sherin's staging makes the storm scene genuinely terrifying.
Production
NY Shakespeare Festival energy: intimate, raw, no safety net.
Director
Edwin Sherin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 1974 production was groundbreaking for casting Black actors in classical roles—Jones's Lear redefined who gets to embody Shakespearean royalty.
Raúl Juliá, fresh off Sesame Street, plays Edmund with such seductive menace that audiences reportedly booed him during curtain calls.
US
